


A New Player

by rumbellesecrets



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-10 20:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10446609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rumbellesecrets/pseuds/rumbellesecrets
Summary: Jumanji AU.Once Upon A Timeis a game Belle French feels compelled to play.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Rumbelle Showdown - Round One
> 
> \- “You silly fool.  
> \- Jumanji AU  
> \- Daybreak

Belle had never believed that one could be dripping in sweat and shiver at the same time. Her heart galloped in her chest, still caught in the race of the last hour. Her legs should have been burning with effort, but instead adrenaline kept her body ready for another sprint across the forest.

She’d been running almost non-stop since her arrival here, ever since a hand had grabbed hers and pulled her away from that… that _thing_ that had towered over her. That thing with teeth and claws and… 

Belle had been running ever since, promising herself to deal with the fact that she had been sucked into a game board once she was safe.

Her heels had been useless on the uneven ground, and her sheer pantyhose had lasted maybe two minutes against the pebbles and twigs she kept tripping on - though after a growled warning from her companion, she had learned to watch where she was stepping less she wanted him to move on without her.  
  
Being swallowed into the strange world inside a board game was already terrifying. Belle didn't want to fathom trying to survive the night on her own, not with the howls that seemed to fill the darkness.  
  
"Your teeth are rattling," the man at her side snapped.  
  
Words of encouragement or kindness had yet to appear in his vocabulary. His brusque manner tied to his unfriendly glares would have made Belle avoid him if they'd met anywhere else. But his size belied a great strength and speed, and he had often pulled her along when Belle would have given up.  
  
That was why she didn't lash out when he sneered again.  
  
"You're not going to cry now, are you?"

Belle pressed her lips together, tightening her jaw. The urge to scream and ask questions had passed hours ago, once it became obvious that her only priority was to stay alive. Even the need to hold back tears had stopped, replaced by the more urgent need to make no noise even as each step made the lacerated soles of her feet flare with pain.

The rough terrain had meant gaining at least a dozen blisters and as many other scratches during their run. In despair, Belle had tugged off her tattered panty hose a couple hours ago and wrapped her feet in the flimsy fabric. That had helped for a whole half hour before they had snagged on the bark of a fallen tree trunk they'd been climbing, and Belle had almost fallen on her face. Only a tight grasp at the back of her blouse, hauling her roughly back to her feet, had saved her from a broken nose.  
  
Her companion had shrugged off her gratitude, and hissed at her to move already if she didn't want to become a late-night snack.  
  
Belle had hurried after him, envying his leather ensemble - particularly the thick-soled boots - with every step.  
  
“Is it over?” she asked now, her voice as low as she could make it.

He stared at her, dark eyes glittering with sudden humor. “Why are you whispering, dearie?”

Belle blinked. “I thought—” She shook her head. Until now, this man had guided her to safety and given no reason to distrust him. “It’s safe now?”

His shoulders lifted into a careless gesture. “Maybe it is. Maybe it’s not.” Long, elegant hands danced in the air, finishing with his forefinger pointed straight between her eyes. The man smiled congenially but his eyes glittered with mischievousness, putting her in thought of a boy playing cops and robbers, aiming an imaginary pistol at his best friend. He even drew his thumb back, mimicking the cocking of a gun. “But _you_ , dearie, definitely are not.”

Belle swallowed. “What do you mean?”

“Can’t you tell that it will be daybreak soon, you silly girl?” When that didn’t get any reaction from her, he lowered his arms and tilted his head. “You really are not from around here, are you?”

“I told you—”

“Yes, yes. Tripped down a portal.” He sounded extremely bored by the thought. “Everyone is always claiming they come from a different world around these parts. It stopped being funny a century ago. It hasn’t been useful at all in even longer.”

Belle frowned, trying to make sense of that information. She set aside the fact of his being at least decades older than his apparent age. “So… I’m not the first?”

He let out a shout of laughter. “Oh dearie dear. Of course not!”  
  
“And the others… did they return home?”  
  
“Some might have.” He made a face. “Who cares?”  
  
Belle had the impression that he did care, but for now the hope that there was a way back to her own world was enough. “Why me?” she asked instead.  
  
He laughed again. “Well, well. Look how important we think we are! You just were there, dearie. Wrong time, wrong place… and more curiosity than sense, I bet.” His hand gave a dismissive wave, and he was still chuckling as he said, “Let me guess. You saw a pretty box. It called to you, so you opened it and found a miniature world inside - what was it for you, the unexplored jungle, the underwater kingdom, or the fairytale quest? No, no, I’m still guessing!” He grinned, leaning down to peer at her. Belle met his eye without flinching. “Ah. A brave little warrior. Of course it showed you the princess in her tower and told you how you were the only one who could help her. Hah!”  
  
“It was supposed to be a game!”  
  
He raised an eyebrow, giving a sweeping gesture that encompassed the world around them. “And here you are, playing it.”  
  
Belle wanted to stomp her foot, and only a thread of sanity reminded her what a bad idea that would be. Instead she made a fist, bumping it against her hip in anger. “That’s not how it works!”  
  
He smirked. “Oh, it’s not? But the rules were quite explicit, don’t you remember?” His hand flew to his chest at her confused frown, faking shock. “You mean you didn’t read ‘em? Well, well. Bad idea to cast the dice when you don’t know the rules, dearie. You might-” he giggled “-get a nasty surprise.”  
  
Belle scowled. “If this is a game, then there must be a way to win it. How do I manage that?”  
  
“Why. You help the princess, of course.”  
  
“You’re kidding. I don’t— I’m a librarian! I help people locate the information they need, that’s it!”  
  
He gave her a pitying glance. “How dull.”  
  
Belle narrowed her eyes. Since her college days, she’d had to defend her vocation against the opinions of family, friends, and the occasional date who thought they knew better. “I love my job, okay? That’s a lot more than most people can say. But I rescue books from ketchup stains and cracked spines, not princesses from dragons!”  
  
“Oh. Dragons. At least there’s nothing wrong with your imagination.”  
  
“There’s nothing wrong with me at all!”  
  
He smirked. “Feisty.”  
  
She made sure that her responding smile showed teeth. “Thanks.”  
  
His expression brightened at her reaction, and he sketched her a low bow. “Your servant, milady.” He turned to grin at her. “For as long as you ask nothing of me.”  
  
That bit of silliness made her giggle. Then she sighed. “No, really. _Thank you_. You saved my life tonight. Several times.”  
  
Again, he twitched with discomfort at her gratitude. “Yes, well. I’m always happy to deprive an ogre of his dinner.”  
  
Ogres. Belle shuddered at the memory of all the glimpses she had gotten of the monstrous hulk tracking them. It had been a night like no other, and she was tempted to just lie down on the grass and rest until the world made sense again.  
  
But leaving herself defenseless would be suicide.  
  
“Is it all right if I tag along with you until morning?”  
  
He crossed his arms over his chest. “And you plan to go on your own after that? Just traipse around in full light, where anybody can see you? There’s bravery and there’s idiocy, dearie, and you’re dangerously courting the latter.”  
  
Belle blinked. “But it’ll be safer when the sun is up. If you just tell me which way to go…”  
  
He barked in laughter. “Safer, she says.” He shook his head, his long hair falling briefly over his face before he swiped it away with an impatient gesture. “During the day the ogres hide so they won’t run into the queen’s men, you little fool. Better to be eaten outright than grabbed by that lot.”  
  
The hate in those words made Belle shudder. He wasn’t faking it. “But what am I supposed to do? I can’t stay put if I’m helping this princess, and I _will_ help her. I’m going back home!”  
  
“Bah. That’s easy enough. Plenty of the brats around here. Help one over a patch of mud and you’re set.” He shrugged a shoulder at her look of disbelief. “It’s just a game, dearie. No need to take it so seriously.”  
  
Belle narrowed her eyes. “I still need to find one first.”  
  
“Well, aren’t you in luck.” He clapped his hands as if struck by inspiration. “I’m meeting a princess tomorrow night. Awful girl, terribly mouthy, but her lineage… well, you could say it’s pure as snow!”  
  
“And you’ll take me to her?”  
  
He grinned. “For a price.”  
  
Belle spread her hands. “I have nothing of value.”  
  
“Oh, you have time, dearie. You have knowledge of that world you come from. All of it stored into that pretty head I spent quite a lot of energy making sure it wasn’t bashed into a rock.” He gave her a self-satisfied smirk. “I ask for nothing but payment for services already rendered, dearie.”  
  
His smugness finally clued Belle in. “You knew I was coming. No wonder you were there at the right time, you were waiting for me!”  
  
“Again with the ego.” He twitched his nose in mock-distaste. “I didn’t know about _you_. But I do keep an eye on portals into this world. Let’s say I have a particular interest in what lies beyond our borders.”  
  
“My name is Belle.”  
  
“No use to learning names when one doesn’t mean to become attached.”  
  
“You will call me that anyway,” Belle ground out. She had already lost her home, her safety, and perhaps a few weeks of freedom as she paid him back for his 'services’. She was not giving up her name too.  
  
They glared at each other for several seconds.  
  
The first hint of dawn broke over the horizon.  
  
He scowled and nodded. “Fine, fine, but let’s move!”  
  
Belle grinned, stepping closer. “What should I call you?”  
  
But he had already grabbed her by the waist before she’d finished the question. A protest broke through her lips, but it was swallowed into a cloud of dark smoke that surrounded them. The next instant was a feeling Belle would remember her whole life - the world blurring away from her senses, just to pop back into position in a completely different place.  
  
But it was she who had moved.  
  
She and—  
  
Belle gasped.  
  
Her rescuer had abandoned her, leaving in his place a creature of odd skin and golden eyes, wild hair an unruly halo around his head. Belle almost took a step away, ready to risk the unknown and slash her feet to ribbons in search for safety, but at the last moment she recognized the look in those strange eyes. “It’s you,” she breathed in relief, ordering her heartbeat to calm down. “How…?”  
  
He eyed her for a long moment, seemingly hesitant when she didn’t flee from him. “How else,” he said bitterly. “You think you’re the only one who didn’t know the rules before they played that damned game?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked this taste of adventure!


End file.
